


Indelebilis Amoris

by CaramelShipper



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: F/M, Implied/Referenced Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Time Travel
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-11
Updated: 2020-10-19
Packaged: 2021-03-06 02:21:32
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 14,409
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25835662
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CaramelShipper/pseuds/CaramelShipper
Summary: Lavinia looked at the stars and wondered if their light was really as eternal as they claimed. She wished they could share it with her to brighten even just one of her days. Everything was dull, everything was meaningless. Her home life, her school life, her love life. And even if she tried to fill it with her daily spell creating, it was but a fleeting spark before her day was cast in shadow once more. With one last look at the night sky, she turned back towards her dorms but not before taking notice of Sirius and resent her for not sharing her light. "Stingy star." And saying so she went back to her monotonous life.
Relationships: Fred Weasley & Original Female Character(s), Sirius Black & Original Female Character(s), Sirius Black/Original Female Character(s)
Kudos: 18





	1. The Burrow

**Author's Note:**

> Indelebilis Amoris: Indestructable Love; Timeless Love
> 
> I've been planning this story for the past 10-11 years, but I was never brave enough to post it. 
> 
> I was actually writing this with my best friend from high school, but we fought back then and we didn't continue the story. But now, I don't care. I'm going to write it because I want to.
> 
> If you want help, Lavinia's faceclaim is Natalia Dyer.

Lavinia apparated in the middle of a field, her letting go of her trunk and an empty cage. She turned around, her teary eyes and blotchy face relaxing in relief when she saw The Burrow. She ran to the house and knocked loudly. 

“Fred!” She shouted. “Fred please open up!”

Suddenly and very fast, the door opened. Standing there with a hand on the knob and his wand in the other, was a robe-clad Mr. Weasley, a perplexed look on his tired face.

“Lavinia? What are you doing here?”

“Good night, Mr. Weasely.” Lavinia said, sniffing. “I’m so sorry to bother you this late. Is…” She took a shaky breath. “Can I talk to Fred, please?”

“What’s going on there?” Mrs. Weasely’s said as she made her way towards the door. “Lavinia dear, what are you doing here at this-” Mrs. Weasley stopped at the sight of Lavinia’s face. More specifically, how her left cheek and eye were bruised.

“Lavinia what happened?” She said, with a stern tone to her voice.

Lavinia’s eyes started watering as she stared at the adults in front of her. “Can I talk to Fred, please?” Her voice broke as she asked for him.

The Weaselys let her into their home, Molly leading her to the living room as Arthur went to fetch Fred.

“I’m so sorry for bothering you so late, Mrs. Weasely.” Lavinia murmured.

“You’re never a bother, dear. You’re always welcomed here.” Molly replied as she gently rubbed the girl’s shoulders.

A ruckus was heard from the stairs, and both women turned to see Fred Weasley running down. He paused when he saw Lavinia, his face going from concern to anger.

“Hello, Freddie.” Lavinia whispered.

“I’m going to kill him.” Fred said as he turned to go back upstairs, clearly going to fetch his wand.

“Fred, no! Wait!” Lavinia shouted standing up, making the young man turn to look at her.

“Fred please, just…” Lavinia started but couldn’t finish as the sob she was holding in wrecked her body, closing her eyes and covering her face with her hands.  
She felt a set of arms wrapping themselves around her, instantly wrapping hers around the torso and hiding her face against his chest. Fred kissed her head as he held her, rubbing her back gently as she cried. 

“I just- I had to- I couldn’t be there anymore!” Lavinia said through sobs, Fred making shushing sounds at her.

“It’s okay, Vinia. You’re okay.” Fred replied, “You’re okay.”

“I’m so sorry for barging in like this on you, I didn’t know where else to go.”

“It’s okay, love. I’ve got you.” He said, running his fingers through her long, light brown hair. 

Still, holding her and running his fingers through her hair, he sat them down on the couch. Molly walked in silently while Lavinia sobbed into Fred’s chest, and left a tray with a kettle and two tea cups. Fred nodded a silent thanks to his mother as she walked back upstairs, ready to put her other three children to sleep again.

Fred held Lavinia in silence until she stopped sobbing and little sniffs were heard. She pulled away, staring up at him with teary, red, puffy eyes. His eyes moved around her face, looking from her swelling black eye to the purple bruise on her cheek. He brought a hand to cup her uninjured cheek, and gently ran his thumb on it.

“What happened, Vinia?” He asked softly, making Lavinia shrug.

“You know, he got home late from the bar. I was doing my homework in the living room, and he didn’t like it. He, “ Lavinia took a shaky breath. “He pushed all my books to the floor and slapped me to the floor. When I tried to defend myself he punched me.” A tear ran down her face. “And I just laid there until he went to his room.”

She couldn’t look up at Fred, too ashamed to even look him in the eye. Fred found out about Lavinia’s family life during the Christmas break during Fifth year, when she went to The Burrow to visit.She went home for a few days, but she went to The Burrow to meet his family, Fred was going to officially introduce her to his parents as his girlfriend. She fooled his family with the makeup she used on the bruises on her arms, but he knew better. He confronted her about it, and she made him promise not to tell anyone, not even George. And she had a hard time getting him to stay and not hurt her father. She knew it would end badly if he did.

Fred handed her a steaming cup of tea and held her other hand in his, rubbing his thumb over her knuckles, staring at her with a sad gleam in his brown eyes.

“I just,” She sniffed, “I couldn’t take it anymore. I just left.” She said, taking a sip from her tea.

“I’m happy you finally left, love.” 

“Can I…” Lavinia started, but Fred interrupted her.

“You don’t even have to ask, Vinia. You’re staying here.”

Finally, Lavinia looked up, forest green eyes looking up at him.

“Thank you.” She whispered.

They drank their tea in silence, Fred still holding her hand in his.

“I um…” Lavinia cleared her throat. “ I sent Rosina here with a letter to you, just so she could make her way without getting lost. She’ll get here in the morning.”

Fred nodded, and took her cup and placed it on the table.

“Freddie, could you, stay with me tonight?” Lavinia blushed. “Just until I fall asleep. I know your mum doesn’t like it when we share a bed.”

Fred chuckled a bit, but nodded and got the small blanket from the couch and with a swing from his wand transfigured it into a bigger, fluffier blanket. 

Fred laid down on the sofa with his arms stretched out, waiting for Lavinia to lay down. Getting between his legs, she laid her head on his chest, right below his chin. Fred covered them with the blanket and wrapped his arms around her again.

She looked up at him and he looked down at her, maintaining eye contact. Then, Lavinia leaned up and gently kissed his lips, closing her eyes. Fred returned the soft kiss, then pulled back with a grin on his face.

“You know best friends don’t kiss each other, right?” He said cheekily, making Lavinia chuckle.

“Some do.”

“Oh, so you’ve kissed George?”

Lavinia snorted.

“Okay okay, not all best friends kiss. But the ones that used to date do.”

“Eh, I’m not really sure about that, miss Everly.” Fred replied with a toothy grin.

“Ugh just shut up and kiss me, Fred Weasley.” 

Fred chuckled but kissed her anyway, his hands at her hips. The kiss wasn’t passionate nor romantic, just a guy comforting his best friend who is a girl who he happened to date for a year.

\---

“Wake up, lovebirds.”

Lavinia and Fred woke up, lights bright on their faces. They groggily looked up at a smiling George, clearly amused to have caught them in that position.

The couple stretched; still on the sofa; and stood up. It was when George had a good look at Lavinia’s face. He smiled, trying to mask his worry, but Lavinia knew him too well.

“Morning, Georgie.” She said, giving him a hug.

The twins were too tall for her now. They were a full head taller than her, and they enjoyed reminding her about it.

“Hey, Vini. Glad you’re here.”

“Okay, everyone ready? We’re leaving in 15 minutes!” Mr. Weasley’s voice sounded through the house.

“You’re leaving?” Lavinia asked her best friends.

“ _We’re_ leaving, darling. You’re coming with us.” Mrs. Weasley said. “Oh, your owl just got here. Please get her in her cage, darling.”

Mrs. Weasley made her way towards the teenagers, ignoring - for their sake - that they had spent the night together, and took Lavinia’s face in her hand.

“I have some ditany, love. I could fix this for you.”

Lavinia shook her head.

“It’s alright, Mrs. Weasley, I’ll wear this as a badge of honor.” She said, a small smile on her lips.

Molly smiled a sad smile but nodded, gently patting her cheek to not hurt her more.

Ginny, Ron and Hermione walked down the stairs with their trunks behind them. All three of them greeted Lavinia, trying very hard not to look at her face. It was pretty obvious Molly had a chat with them about it.

They all stood in the yard of The Burrow, owls in cages and trunks ready, waiting for Mr. Weasley’s instructions. Molly wrapped her arm around Ginny's shoulder in a side hug, as well as Arthur with Ron and George with Hermione. Since the three underage witches and wizard could not apparate yet, they needed help from the other people who could.

“Um, where exactly are we going?” Lavinia asked.

“To Number 12 Grimmauld Place.”


	2. Number 12, Grimmauld Place

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello everyone!
> 
> I’ve got a kinda sad note here. I’m a teacher and we just started school (teachers - not students yet) so I may not be able to update as frequently as I've been.  
> I’ll try, but it won’t be every two-three days.
> 
> I’ll still work on both stories ("In lak’ech" and "Indelebilis Amoris"), I’m working on a schedule on when to upload them, I don’t know if I’ll update each once a week (like Thursdays for In lak’ech and Mondays for Indelebilis Amoris) or update one week each (like, one week In lak’ech, the next week Indelebilis Amoris). I’m not sure yet, but I’ll work on it through the week. But please tell me what you think! I’m open to suggestions :)
> 
> Please leave a comment! I love hearing from you guys! 
> 
> Happy reading!

The Weasley clan and their 2 extra guests apparated outside a busy London street in front of a lot of houses, going from numbers from 1 to 11, then 13 to 16. Lavinia turned to look at Fred and then to George, clearly not understanding what was going on.

“Here,” Mr. Weasley said, making Lavinia turn to look at him, and he handed her a piece of parchment. “Memorize it quickly.”

Lavinia gave him a confused look and looked down to read the parchment. _“The headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix may be found at number 12, Grimmauld Place.”_ She looked up at him again, then turned to the twins who were staring at her with smiles on their faces.

“What’s this?”

“Have you memorized it? Good. Now, look at those houses and think about what you’ve just memorized.”

Not really understanding what was going on, Lavinia just thought about the piece of parchment while looking at the houses. Then, out of nowhere, houses numbers 11 and 13 started moving to either side and another house started to move forward from between the houses.

She looked on in shock, not really expecting that to happen. Fred grabbed her hand and pulled on it, snapping her out of it and silently telling her to follow them. She did, not letting go of Fred’s hand as Mr. Weasley opened the door and everyone entered behind him. 

Entering the house behind Fred and being the last one to enter, she accidentally bumped into an umbrella holder that was on the floor, making a lot of noise. Everyone turned to look at her, Mr. and Mrs. Weasley looking at her with regret in their eyes.

Lavinia winced at the attention. “Sorry-“

Lavinia was interrupted by the curtains on the wall beside her opening and a loud screech coming from the portrait behind them. A woman came into view in the portrait, an angry scowl on her face, brows etched together.

_“FILTH! SCUM! BY-PRODUCTS OF DIRT AND VILENESS! MUDBLOODS!”_

Lavinia started with wide, scared eyes as the woman screamed at them, wincing as she heard her call her a ‘mudblood’.

_“HALF-BREEDS, MUTANTS, FREAKS, BEGONE FROM THIS PLACE! HOW DARE YOU BEFOUL THE NAME OF MY FATHER’S HOUSE-!”_

As suddenly as the curtains opened, they closed again. Lavinia turned to see a man with long,shaggy black hair closing them.

“Sorry about that.” He said, turning to the lot of teenagers. “My mother. Lovely woman, isn’t she?”

She was paralized from both shock at the woman’s sudden screaming and this man’s sudden appearance. She stared at him as he smiled at all of them. He was handsome, with a rugged-kinda look to him, a mischievous aura around him.

“Good morning, everyone.” A voice at the end of the hall said. Lavinia turned to look at the person who spoke. Her eyes went wide at the view.

“P-professor Lupin?” 

“Good morning, miss Everly.” He said with a gentle smile on his tired face.

Lavinia let a smile draw on her face as she ran towards the man, enveloping him in a hug.

“I’m not your professor anymore, you can call me Remus.” He said, returning the hug.

Lavinia pulled back and stared at her favorite professor, who she ended up loving as more than that, more like a friend.

“I respect you too much to not call you “professor”, Remus.” She said with a wide smile on her face.

Remus’ smile transformed into a frown as he took in the state of her was in, his hands grabbing a bit tighter at her upper arms.

“It’s okay, Remus. Don’t worry about it.” 

Remus nodded. He wanted to ask what had happened to her, but understood that it was a sore subject for her.

“I hope you don’t mind Lavinia came along, Sirius.” Molly said.

“Of course not, the more the merrier.” The man; Sirius, guessed; replied with his hands on his hips and a wider smile.

Lavinia; at hearing his name; raised her eyebrows up to her hairline in surprise. _Sirius Black? As in fugitive mass murderer **Sirius Black?**_

Remus noticed this, and just squeezed her arm a bit. She turned to look up at him, taking in the silent “We’ll talk about this later” he was telling her. Lavinia just nodded and turned to Mrs. Weasley as she gave them all instructions to leave their trunks in the rooms they’d be staying in. Lavinia, Ginny, and Hermione shared a room while Ron, Fred, and George shared another one.

Mrs. Weasley took everyone to the basement to the kitchen to work on a quick breakfast while everyone was sitting at the dining table. Lavinia had offered to help Molly, but she told her to go rest. She sat at the table surrounded by her friends' family - _her_ family - as they chatted. She felt eyes on her a couple of times, but guessed it was Fred making sure she was alright.

“Alright everyone let’s start cleaning up!” Mrs. Weasley said after everyone was done eating, giving them all a piece of cloth to wrap around their mouths. The house needed urgent tending to, apparently no one had set foot in the house for over 10 years. 

A couple of hours later, the teens were called to wash up as lunch was almost ready. Fred took it upon himself to take care of Lavinia. He checked up on her every so often, checking if she was in pain or sad. In the 7 years he’d known her, he had never seen her like she had been the night before. 

He held her hand under the table during lunch, squeezing it from time to time. They were chatting with everyone at the table, laughing and talking about just how crazy dirty the house seemed, but Fred knew just when Lavinia needed reaffirmation that she’d be fine.

After lunch, Remus grabbed Lavinia gently by the arm, pulling her aside.

“Hey, Remus.”

“How are you feeling?”

“I’m good. Getting better.” She said with a small smile, one that Remus returned.

“That’s good, I’m glad.” 

Lavinia could feel his eyes on her face while she couldn’t keep an eye contact with him. Not because she was ashamed of the state of her face, but more of the fact that she let it happen.

“Listen, Lavinia, I know you may be scared about being here, but trust me, everything is fine. Sirius didn’t kill anyone back then.”

Lavinia snapped her head up to look at him with wide eyes. “He’s innocent?”

“He’s innocent.”

“Oh. Okay then.”

After that, they went back to cleaning. Both teenagers and adults were in different rooms of the house dusting, sweeping and trying to make the house a little bit more livable. Since the only ones of age were Lavinia and the twins, Molly made them all (of age or not) clean everything the muggle way - by hand Hermione and Lavinia were used to it, but the Weasley kids were not. 

Lavinia, after a couple of hours of cleaning, wiped her forehead with her forearm and turned to the other people in the room.

“Hey guys,” she started, making everyone look at her. “Can I go take a break? I’m feeling a bit… stuffy.”

Everyone nodded and returned to cleaning again, but Fred got closer to her and grabbed her hand.

“Want me to go with you?” He whispered as he squeezed her hand. 

Lavinia smiled and shook her head. “It’s okay, Freddie. I kinda need to be alone for a bit.”

Fred nodded and leaned down and laid a small kiss on her lips. “I’ll come get you for dinner.”

Lavinia made her way down the stairs and walked around the ground floor, where she could see a glass door at the formal dining room that led to a backyard. She opened the door and walked into a very messy and overgrown backyard. The grass was too tall for a place like this, the tree was dying, and the iron furniture was rusting.

 _I think we’ll have to work here, too._ Lavinia thought.

Lavinia sat down on the floor, leaning her back against the wall with her head leaned back. She closed her eyes and sighed, her muscles sore from all the work out the cleaning has made her do.

“That was a very deep sigh.”

Lavinia opened her eyes with a start and turned to her left, seeing Sirius Black standing by, leaning against the wall. She stared at him as he smiled down at her. She couldn’t help but notice just how handsome he was. He had some age lines on his face, making him look his age, but he still was very handsome.

“It’s been a very long couple of days.” She replied.

Sirius hummed and nodded. “Do you mind if I sit?” He asked, pointing to the space next to her.

“It’s your house, you don’t have to ask me.” She said with a small chuckle.

Sirius chuckled back and sat down next to her, maintaining some space between them.

They stayed silent, either of them not knowing really what to say.

“Thank you for having me, Mr. Black. I know I got here out of nowhere.”

Sirius waved his hand as if sweeping away her comment. “Don’t worry about it, nothing wrong with it. And please, call me Sirius. Mr. Black is my father and I don’t want anything to do with him.”

She nodded, looking up at the night sky. She was surprised to see the stars, what with being in London where there are lights turned on all over the city. 

“Beautiful, isn’t it?”

She nodded, her eyes still attached to the sky. “I love stargazing. They relax me.” She took a deep breath as they both looked up at the starry sky.

“Really?”

Lavinia nodded. “Yeah. Astronomy is my favorite class.” She said, a smile growing on her face as she stared at the stars.

“What’s your favorite constellation?” He asked her with interest, making her snort.

“What is it?” He questioned with a small chuckle.

“You’re going to laugh when I tell you.”

“Is it Canis Major?” He said, smirking.

Lavinia let out a bark of a laugh, nodding her head as she did.

Sirius laughed with her, both now facing each other as their laughters died down.

“Are you going back to whoever did that to you?” He whispered.

“No.” She replied, looking for her favorite star in the sky. “I’m never seeing that person again.”

Sirius smiled at her fondly.

“That’s good.”

“Hey, Vinia! Dinner’s ready!” Fred said, as his head appeared through the open door.

“I’ll be right there, Freddie. Save me a place, will ya?”

Fred nodded and left. Sirius and Lavinia stood up, brushing the dirt off their backsides as they did.

“Can I ask what’s your favorite star?” He asked her with a smirk on his face.

Lavinia grinned at him, a mischievous gleam in her eye.

“Guess.”


	3. Jealousy

The weeks passed, and suddenly Lavinia found herself staying at Sirius’ house for almost a month. Her face looked better now, the bruises now gone and her eye wasn’t shut anymore. Her days consisted of the same routine. Wake up at 8 am from Molly shouting from the ground floor, breakfast in the basement that Molly cooked for everyone, cleaning the rest of the house from the dust and doxies that infested it, then lunch with some of the members of the Order, cleaning again, then dinner with every member of the Order as they held meetings after dinner time (teenagers weren’t allowed in the meetings, even they were of age already), and then straight to bed. Some nights, during the first few nights at least, she’d wake up in the middle of the night covered in cold sweat, and walked quietly the three floors up to Fred’s room and joined him in bed. He already knew it was her, so, without even opening his eyes, wrapped his arms around her, kissed her forehead, and both of them went back to sleep.

Every night, however, about 15 minutes before dinner, Lavinia always went to the backyard and stargazed. It was weird that, even if she were in the middle of busy London, she could look up at the sky and see every single star there was as if she was at Hogwarts. Maybe there was a spell or something to make the light pollution disappear. Whatever it was, she was grateful for it.

And, a couple of minutes after she got there, as if on cue, Sirius arrived and sat down next to her. They talked about anything and everything, from what he liked the most from being in Hogwarts and the adventures he lived while living in the castle, to her favorite subjects in school and her favorite food.

“You can’t be serious!” Sirius said as he threw his head back in laughter, making her laugh as well.

“I swear! It was so fun to watch!” She replied

“So you and the twins set dungbombs inside Snivellus’ drawer and set them up to explode the moment he opened it?”

“Not a dungbomb per se, but I created a spell to make it explode and pink smoke come off, staining his face.” She said between laughs.

Sirius, who was sitting on the floor with one of his legs crossed and the other folded up, his arm resting on his knee, barked out a laugh and slapped his knee. “Oh I would have paid to see that.”

“Detention was so worth it.” 

“I bet it was!” He said, laughing harder and making her laugh as well.

Lavinia stared at Sirius sitting next to her, biting her lower lip gently to keep her from her smile to broaden more than it should. He was handsome, she couldn’t deny that. And she was 100% sure that, if he was this handsome at 35, he was sure to be fit back in his teenage years. The way the corners of his eyes wrinkled a bit when he laughed, the way his face brightened when he talked about his Hogwarts years, she really liked that about him.

“You are quite the little minx, aren’t you?” He said with a smirk as he turned to look at her with a gleam in his eye.

Blushing a bit and looking down at the floor, she replied “Well, I’m best friends with Hogwarts’ number 1 pranksters of my time, I have to keep up sometimes.” She smiled and looked up at him.

“Hey.”

They both turned to look at Fred, who was standing at the door with a small frown on his face. “Dinner’s ready.”

“Thanks, Fred.” Sirius replied as he stood up and offered a hand to help Lavinia up.

Lavinia took it with a smile on her face and she looked up at him as he pulled her up, missing the way Fred’s frown deepened at her smile to the older man.

“Let’s go, princess.” He smirked at her and winked, making her cheeks turn an even deeper shade of pink.

“I already set our seats, love.” Fred said, raising his voice, making both Sirius and Lavinia turn to look at him.

“Thank you, Freddie. I’ll be right there.”

“It’s already served. Come on.” Fred replied as he stretched his arm in front of him. Lavinia, looking back and forth between the two of them, grabbed Fred’s hand with just a tiny bit of hesitation. The moment he wrapped his fingers around her hand, Fred pulled her over to him and wrapped that same arm around her shoulders, never taking his eyes off of Sirius.

“Let’s go, love.” 

He turned them around and walked inside, making their way towards the stairs that led to the basement’s dining room next to the kitchen.

During dinner, Fred kept his arm wrapped around Lavinia’s chair and ran his fingers gently on her shoulder while they chatted with everyone who was over for dinner that night, sometimes turning to keep an eye on her to make sure she was fine and smiled at him, then turned back to chatting.

Feeling eyes on her, she turned to find Sirius, who was sitting at the head of the table, staring at her with a smirk on his face. She smiled back and nodded a “hello”, to which he lifted his drink at her and winked. This made Lavinia blush and she turned to look at her hands on her lap, a bigger smile growing on her face.

She turned back to the conversation she was having with Hermione and Tonks, every so often looking at Sirius from the corner of her eye, feeling his eyes on her again.

“Allright, I think it’s time for the young ones to go to bed.” Molly said after everyone was done eating, making all the teenagers groan.

“Now now, everyone. Up you go.” Molly said, a little bit more sternly as she looked her children - yes, even Hermione and Lavinia were her children - up and down. They all groaned again, but stood up to leave, Lavinia was the last to leave, walking behind Fred as they all said their good nights to the members of the Order.

“Good night, princess.” 

She stopped and turned around, her eyes stuck on Sirius as he smirked at her and she smiled back. Dammit she was blushing again. He just loved to make her blush, didn’t he?

“Good night, Sirius.” She whispered as she bit her lower lip and stared at him, forgetting about everyone else in the room as he winked at her again.

“Let’s go, Vinia.” 

It was Fred’s voice and hand in hers that shook her out of it, and she turned to look at him with wide eyes then at the members of the Order who were just staring at the situation without a clue of what was going on. The only person, besides Sirius, who had a different expression on his face, was Remus, who had his eyes closed as he shook his head.

“Um.. good night. Remus. Everyone.” 

With that, she turned and followed Fred up the stairs to their rooms.

Fred walked her to the room she shared with Ginny and Hermione, but just before he left her, she said “Hey Fred?”

He looked down at her. “Yes, Vinia?”

She fumbled with her fingers a bit, the tick she had when she was nervous. 

“Is everything okay?”

“Why wouldn’t it be?”

“I don’t know, you’d been acting differently lately.”

“I’m fine, just tired, love. Don’t worry about it.” He said as he took both her hands in both of his and got close to her, her forehead almost touching his chin.

“Promise?”

“I promise.” With that, he kissed her forehead and let go of her hands, dissaparating in front of her, most likely apparating in his room which was on the fourth floor.

Lavinia sighed and entered her room, walked towards her bed and took her pajamas out of her trunk to get ready for bed.

The moment she entered, however, Ginny and Hermione became quiet. Weirdly quiet.

“You can ask, you know.” Lavinia told the younger girls after a sigh.

“We didn’t want to be rude.” Hermione replied.

“It’s okay, Mione. You can ask.” She said with a smile.

“Are you and Fred dating again?” Asked Ginny.

Shaking her head, Lavinia looked over at the redhead. “No, we’re still just friends.”

“Friends don’t treat each other like you guys behave around each other.”

“Fred and I…” she paused, taking a breath to organize her thoughts. “Fred and I have a different friendship than other people. I… need him and I love him, but not like that. It’s hard to explain.” She said as she turned around to change her top.

“Night, girls.”

\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Lavinia woke up with a start. She looked out the window, noticing it was barely after dawn. Taking a look at her watch, she groaned. 

_6:45 am_

She felt herself being awake, and she knew she wouldn’t be able to fall back asleep again. So she decided to go make herself some tea, maybe that’ll help her relax.

She silently got up from her bed and walked to the door, trying not to wake up the other two girls sharing a room with her.

Closing the door gently behind her, she walked down the stairs, very carefully not to wake up Walburga Black’s portrait. She walked down the two flights of stairs she had to to get to the basement and get to the kitchen. 

After being there for almost a month and sometimes helping Molly with breakfast or lunch, she already knew where everything was. So she took a kettle and filled it with water, and set a flame with her wand on the stove under the kettle.

When the kettle was hot, she poured herself a cup of the hot water and just added the tea leaves. Taking her cup with her, she made her way to the table and sat down while her tea cooled down a bit to take a sip, her eyes set on the table as she was deep in thought.

“Good morning.”

Lavinia turned to the door, where a yawning Sirius Black walked towards the cupboard and took out a cup, getting some water from the kettle and preparing himself a cup of tea.

“Good morning.” She replied.

Smiling a very sleepy smile, he sat down on the chair across from her. They held each other’s eye as they stayed quiet, the silence comforting and relaxed.

“What are you doing up so early?” He asked, taking a sip.

Lavinia shrugged. “Couldn’t sleep. You?”

“Couldn’t sleep either.”

The silence came back, the only sounds the stirring of a spoon or the sips they each were taking.

“So…” Sirius cleared his throat.

“You and Weasley, huh?”  
Lavinia choked on her tea, and after a couple of coughs, she said “Wh-what about me and Fred?”

“You know, you guys are together, right?”

“No. Fred and I are just friends.” She said, shaking her head.

“Really?” He asked with a brow raised.

“Yeah, we’ve been best friends since first year. We dated back in fifth year, but decided we were better off as friends.”

Nodding, Sirius took another sip from his tea. “I see.”

The silence that came next was an awkward one. Neither of them knew what to say.

“Tell me more about you. You’re a muggleborn, you have to know about muggle music.”

“Um, yeah, I do.”

“Well, what’s your favorite music?”

“My favorite band has got to be Queen. My mom used to play their records every day when I was growing up, and I just love it.” She said smiling.

“Queen’s my favorite too.” He smirked.

“ _You_ know muggle music?” Lavinia asked with wide eyes.

He snorted. “Of course I know muggle music. Even went to some Led Zeppelin concerts.”

“You know Led Zeppelin?!” She gasped and had a shocked smile on her face.

“Of course! I had to bug my mother some way, and my “ruckus noise machine” was the best way to do so.” He said laughing.

“Wow,” She whispered.

“Surprised a pureblood boy like me has a good taste in music?” 

“Being honest, yes.” She snickered.

Once again, they held each other’s gaze for a moment, until the clearing of a throat broke the spell they were in.

They both turned and found Remus leaning against the door, arms crossed in front of him.

“Moony! Good morning, mate.” Sirius exclaimed.

“Morning Pads, Lavinia.” Remus replied, not taking his eyes off of Sirius.

“Good morning, Remus. There’s some water still hot in the kettle, if you want some tea.” 

“Thank you, Lavinia. Would you mind leaving Sirius and I alone? There’s something we need to talk about.” 

“Oh.” She whispered. “Um, yeah, sure. I’ll go back upstairs and try to sleep a little bit more.”  
She stood up and placed her cup in the sink. “See you at breakfast.”

With that, she gave Sirius a small wave and walked past Remus, who hadn’t moved from the door, and went back upstairs.


	4. The Talk

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello hello! I'm back with another chapter!
> 
> I just want to say thank you to my beta! She's a very good writer and very nice person! I'll leave her username @samisina10232017 here and please go read her fanfiction! It's really good! 
> 
> And thank you Sami for being so nice and patient with me! You're amazing!

Remus stayed by the door even after Lavinia left, his eyes never leaving Sirius’ form.

“What can I help you with, Moony?”

“What are you doing?”

“I’m having some tea; you should have some too, you seem like you need it,” Sirius said before taking a sip. 

“You know what I mean,” Remus replied.

“Not sure I do.” 

“Whatever it is that’s happening between you and Lavinia,” Remus said as he walked towards the table and sat down. “It has to stop.”

“There’s nothing going on between me and-”

“You know bloody well there is something going on,” Remus interrupted, silencing Sirius to a stare. 

“Lavinia has gone through a lot, Pads,-”

“I would say so, I saw the state of her face when she first arrived.”

Remus took a deep breath and shook his head, “Listen, Lavinia is a very sweet girl with a great heart, but you’re leading the poor soul on.” 

“Leading her on? I could be her father!” 

“Oh don’t act like you don’t get a rise out of the way she looks at you. You’re practicing your old charms - and I don’t mean the wizardly ones.” 

“Ridiculous,” Sirius replied, concealing a smirk with the rim of his cup. 

"I'm serious."

"Really? I thought I was Sirius." 

"I mean it, Sirius. Don't hurt her."

“Don’t worry, Moony. I’m not going to try anything on Lavinia. She’s too young for me,” Sirius replied. “And I’m not going to lie, she’s really stroking my ego. That’s something I thought I wouldn’t have again, if I’m being honest.”

Remus gave him a look that could kill, making Sirius chuckle a bit.

“I swear, my intentions are good. She’s a good kid, she kind of reminded me of myself, you know?” He said.  
Remus remained quiet, his eyes falling onto his hands folded in front of him.

“Yes, I was “practicing my old charms” as you so lovingly put it,” Remus scoffed, “but I don't want to lead her on, I promise. I just feel she needed a friend, someone who understands where she comes from. Even if our forms of abuse were in different manners, it still hurts.” He said, averting his gaze. “I mean, my mother never laid a hand on me because she didn’t need to, the Cruciatus curse got the job done just fine.”

Remus laid his eyes on his friend as he seemed to stare into nothing as he spoke, remembering the way Sirius talked about his mother and the horrible things she did to him.

“You don’t have anything to worry about, mate.” Sirius said when he turned back to him, a small smile on his face.

“Thank you, Pads.”

\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Lavinia entered the room she shared with Hermione and Ginny quietly. She didn’t want to wake them early. She laid down on her bed, looking up at the ceiling, with a huge grin on her face.

She didn’t know why she was smiling so much, but she had to cover her mouth to stifle her giggles. Being with Sirius was so relaxing and she felt comfortable around him. She was starting to develop a bit of a crush.  
It was absurd of course with the 18 year age gap, but he was fun to be around, and quite handsome. He had a certain magnetism, didn’t he? She liked how his eyes gleamed at any sign of mischief and his laughter warmed her heart. 

She nearly watched her memories with him on the ceiling like a pensieve.  
The way his eyes followed her during meals, how he smirked and winked at her without anyone noticing, their talks in the yard every night. 

It felt like it was their space, their time. She was safe from her father there. He couldn’t find her, he couldn’t touch her. He couldn’t hurt her again. Never again. She knew it had a lot to do with the fact that she wasn’t home. Being at Grimmauld Place with the Weasleys and her friends (and yes, Sirius), felt more like home than her own. She sighed as her small smile became a full grown grin, her eyes gleaming in delight as the sun slowly creeped its way into the room from the window. She didn’t have a doubt anymore. She fancied Sirius Black. She was crushing, hard.

There was a small knock at the door. Her heart leaped in her chest. She quickly answered and her smile died down a bit when she discovered it was Fred, not Sirius. 

“Morning, Vinia.” He smiled at her.

“Oh,” She breathed out. “Hi, Fred.”

“Something wrong?” He asked, a small worried look in his eyes.

Lavinia shook her head and forced herself to smile. Of course Sirius wouldn’t be at her door, that’s stupid. Why would he be at her door? “Just a bit tired, that’s all.”

“I didn’t wake you, did I?”

“No no, I was already up, I just didn’t sleep too well last night.”

“Nightmares again?” He asked, leaning down to be at her eye level.

Lavinia looked down. “Y-yeah, a bit.” She lied.

“why didn’t you come to my room? You know you can always come if you have a nightmare.” He pressed his forehead against hers.

“I didn’t want to bother you.” 

Fred sighed and stood straight, wrapping his arms around her and pulling her in, planting a kiss on the crown of her head.

“You’re never a bother, Vinia. I love you, and you know I’m always here for you.” 

Lavinia nodded her head against his chest as she wrapped her arms around his waist, feeling guilty for lying to her best friend. Why did she lie, though? It’s not like what she was feeling was wrong; she can fancy other men. Her relationship with Fred was over, and they had both decided to stay friends. Hell, he even took Angelina Johnson to the Yule Ball back in their Sixth year. She can totally fancy someone else! She’s allowed to.

“Thank you, Freddie. I love you too.”

They stayed in the embrace for a while, both in silence as time kept going. Lavinia felt weird though. Ginny’s words from the night before kept ringing in her ears.

_Friends don’t treat each other like you two._

_You know best friends don’t kiss each other, right?_

Fred had said when she first arrived at The Burrow. That felt so long ago. Has it really just been 3 weeks?

“Everyone up! Breakfast is ready!”

Fred and Lavinia jumped at Molly’s voice ringing through the house, pulling away from the hug. They looked at each other, blush covering their cheeks. Lavinia cleared her throat, averting her eyes from the redhead in front of her.

“Um…” She began. “I’ll see you downstairs? I still have to um, shower and get ready, you know?”

“Y-Yeah, I get it. I’ll see you downstairs.” He leaned in to lay a small kiss on her lips, and then left to go to his own room to get ready himself.

As Lavinia closed the door behind her, she sighed. She couldn’t help but wonder why she was feeling so guilty. And why did she let Fred kiss her? She groaned and gently slapped her face. “Get it together, Lavinia Claire. Get your shit together.” She mumbled under her breath.

\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

She entered the kitchen again, this time showered and feeling fresh. The only people sitting at the table at the moment were Remus, Mr. Weasley, Ron and Hermione. The men were each reading a copy of the Daily Prophet, while Hermione’s head was stuck in a book next to Ron. Molly was, as per usual, in the kitchen preparing breakfast.

“Morning everyone.” She greeted, walking towards the seat next to Hermione, across from Remus. The older man nodded at her as she sat down, giving her a warm and polite smile. As everyone was making their way in, she noticed that Sirius was nowhere to be seen.

“Hey, where’s Sirius?” She asked.

“He’s in the master bedroom, feeding Buckbeak.” Remus replied, not taking his eyes off the newspaper.

“Buckbeak? As in Hagrid’s hippogriff?” She asked with wide eyes.

“Yeah. Hermione and Harry helped me and Beaky escape from certain death.” Sirius said, walking in, opening a door next to the kitchen, dropping a blood-covered bucket in and closing the door behind him. He then marched to the table, and sat down next to Lavinia. It was, in that moment, that she realized that she had sat down to the left of the head of the table. 

Once he was seated, he turned to face Lavinia and smiled. “How was your morning, princess?” He asked her, ignoring Remus’ eyes on him. Lavinia smiled, feeling butterflies in her stomach every time he called her that. 

_Don’t blush. Don’t blush. Don’t blush…_ She thought.

“It was good, I slept for a couple more minutes.” She replied. She wasn’t going to tell him about how she was thinking about him constantly, was she? “Yours?” She asked.

“It was okay. Moony and I got to talk about the good old times, you know? Back at Hogwarts.” He shrugged. With a wave of his wand, a kettle, some cups, and tea appeared in front of them, and with a whisper of “aguamenti”, the kettle filled. With a tap of his wand, out came steam from the spout. 

“Tea?” He asked her and she nodded. Sirius then served her some and handed her the cup. “Remus, some tea?” He asked his friend, who was eyeing him with a defeated look.

“Yes, Sirius. Thank you.” 

Voices could be heard as the twins, Ron and Ginny entered the kitchen, but Fred stood frozen by the door when he noticed that Lavinia and Sirius were sitting together and that there was no free seat next to her for him.

“Fred, George, please come help me set everything on the table.” Molly said, snapping Fred out of his stupor.

As everyone was chatting amongst themselves and having breakfast, Fred couldn’t stop gawking at Lavinia, talking and laughing with Sirius and Remus. Mainly with Sirius. The way her face illuminated when she smiled, her laughter sounded like a melody to him, and he hated that someone else was making her laugh. Fred’s fingers tensed up around the spoon he was holding as he glared at Black. He had to do something, and quickly.

\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The moment everyone was done with breakfast, the teenagers - mainly the Weasley teens - begged their mom for a day off from cleaning. It was the weekend after all, and they were tired. Molly, after some convincing from her husband, agreed. Fred, on his part, had formulated a plan, and he needed the day off.

“Hey, Vinia.”

She turned from the parchment she was writing for their summer homework. They were about to enter their 7th year - And their NEWTs were taken that year. She really wanted to be a Healer when she graduated. The muggle word for it was “psychologist”, and she needed to work on Defend Against the Dark Arts. She got Es on all her OWLs, barely getting one in DADA. She got enough for the NEWT level class, but she had a very hard time last year with Moody as her professor. So, this summer, Remus offered to help her with her homework. 

“Hey Fred, what’s up?”

“I was wondering if you’d like to go around London with me?” He asked, a nervous smile on his face. She looked up at him. 

“Right now?”

“Yeah. I mean, mom said we could take the day off and it’s still early. We could go to muggle London and you could show me around, maybe?” He asked, then inwardly winced when he remembered her dad lived a couple of minutes away from London. “Or we could go to Diagon Alley.” He quickly added.

Lavinia turned to look at Remus with an apologetic look, to which the older man just smiled and shook his head as if saying it was alright. The brunette then turned to her friend and, with a small smile on her face, replied with a “Sure. Let me get my purse and wallet, and we can go.”

She returned, bag in hand. “Let’s go Freddie. I’ll meet you downstairs.” To which Fred nodded and followed her downstairs.

“See you later, Lupin.” Fred said with a wave.

“Bye Remus!” Lavinia’s voice shouted from outside the room, making both men chuckle.


	5. Fred

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Anne Boleyn was actually rumored to be a witch and that she “bewitched” Henry with her “devil powers”. I just twisted that a bit and made her give him Amortentia.
> 
> BUT! In The Sorcerer’s Stone movie, you can see her portrait by the stairs! SO who knows, maybe she was a witch.

Fred held out his arm for Lavinia to take and felt elated when she wrapped her arm around his. “So, where to, love?” He asked.

Lavinia seemed to be deep in thought, then turned to him with a smile. “I think I know where we can go. Hold on tight, Mr. Weasley.” She winked and then both of them apparated just outside of Grimmauld Place.

The two teens found themselves in an empty, dark alley, arms still intertwined. 

“Where are we going, m’lady?” He asked with a fake posh accent, making her laugh.

“I don’t really know, good sir. But we could walk around and find out.” She replied mimicking him and trying to hold in her laugh. When she pulled her arm away to lead them to the entrance of the alley way, she had missed the disappointed expression Fred made, his eyes following her sadly. 

“Come on, Freddie. Let’s go.”

When they approached a strip of shops and restaurants he suggested they head right.  
“We can go that way.” He said, pointing. 

“Do you know what’s over there?” She asked, raising an eyebrow and smirking at him.

“Not at all.” He replied, looking down at her. “That’s the best part.” He held his hand out.

Lavinia barked a laugh at that and, shaking her head, placed her hand in his. “Lead the way, Mr. Weasley.”

As they walked around, Fred wove his fingers between hers causing butterflies in her stomach. She didn’t pull away this time, making his heart flutter. Lavinia tried to play tour guide as they walked, and even though Fred had known most of what she was pointing out he let her carry on. That look on her face when she was passionate about something always drew him in. Time passed quickly, though they had been out for hours. It was lunch time. 

“Do you want to go to the Tower of London? It’s not far from here and maybe we can see Anne Boleyn’s ghost.” 

“We don’t have any muggle money, love.” Fred replied, squeezing her fingers a bit.

“We don’t have to go in, we can just see it from outside.” She shrugged.

“Fine by me. Lead the way.” 

“Did you know Anne Boleyn went to Hogwarts?” She asked.

“No way!”

“I swear! She’s even got a portrait at school.” 

“So a witch got to be queen of England.” Fred said with a mischievous look on his eye.

“Rumour has it that she gave Henry amortentia and that’s why she got him to divorce Catherine and then be the queen.” 

“How do you even know this, Sunshine?” Fred replied, making Lavinia stop walking.

“ ‘Sunshine’?” She asked.

Fred froze. He could feel his stomach dropping to his feet. He wanted to say he didn’t know why he came up with that pet name, but deep down he knew why. It was because of Black. 

“Yeah,” He said after clearing his throat. “Because you’re so… smiley and you know, bright. You…” He turned away from her, his blushing ears poking out of his red hair. “You don’t like that?” He turned to look at her now, noticing that she, too, was blushing a bit.

“You’ve never called me that before, is all.” She replied, averting her gaze.

“I won’t call you that again if you don’t like it.” Fred quickly added.

“It’s okay!” She replied just as fast, turning back to look at him. “It’s not like I don’t like it, you just caught me off guard.”

Both of them kept quiet after that, an awkward aura surrounding them.

“Are you, um…” He asked. “Are you hungry? We can go to the Leaky Cauldron for lunch, then come back here again.”

“Sure.” She replied, biting her lower lip and looking down at her feet as she took his arm for him to apparate them in Diagon Alley.

The awkward feeling that surrounded them lifted after a bit, but didn’t leave her. They chatted and laughed while they had lunch (Fred paid and didn’t let her even offer to do so - not even the tip), and returned to muggle London. As they walked around, hand in hand, or Fred wrapping his arm around her shoulders, she couldn’t help but feel like something was weird.

Why had he called her “sunshine”? The most he did when they were dating was call her “love” and “birdie”, but nothing over that. And, even after they broke up, he continued calling her “love”. On her part, the only pet name she called him was “baby” or “babe”, but they weren’t the kind of couple to call each other names. PDA was a whole other thing, tho. They were very public about how they felt about each other. Fred was very much a hugger and so was she. They could be found in the common room or by the lake with Lavinia sitting on Fred’s lap or between his legs, his arms always around her waist. And when they were alone, they were kissing, heavily. Either in the Gryffindor common room, by the lake, in a broom closet, one of the secret passageways, or in Fred's bed in his dorm. Their relationship was a very physical one - both as a couple or as friends.

By the time she realized it, it was dark outside and they’d ended up by the Tower Bridge. They crossed it, holding hands and laughing, like when they used to date back in Hogwarts in Fifth year. But Lavinia wasn’t really sure about how or what she felt. As they were exiting the bridge, Fred pulled her aside closer to the edge of the Thames, as to not obstruct other people’s way, and held both her hands in both of his. He was looking down at her, a look of adoration in his eyes that made Lavinia feel strange. It didn’t make her feel awkward, but she didn’t really know what she felt. What she was certain she felt though, was regret, and a little bit of fear.

Fred leaned down and placed his lips on hers gently. He placed his hands on either side of her face. She let him kiss her, but she didn’t feel okay with it, not anymore. She didn’t know why she didn’t stop him, but she knew she had to do it. But she didn’t want to hurt his feelings. 

Fred, feeling her not kiss him back, pull away. He looked at her with a sad and disappointed look in his eyes. She couldn’t even look at him. Her eyes were looking at the floor and her brows were furrowed. 

“What’s wrong?” He asked with a defeated tone. 

“It-it’s nothing.” She whispered, not looking up.

“Please don’t lie to me, Vinia.” Lavinia turned up and met his brown eyes, a sad gleam in them. “I deserve better than that.”

“I…” Lavinia started, but couldn’t seem to be able to finish her sentence. “I’m sorry, Fred.”

Fred bit his lower lip and shook his head gently. “It’s Black, isn’t it?”

“What?” She said, eyes wide in shock.

“You’ve got something with Black. I know it.” 

“Fred, what are you talking about?”

“You know bloody well what I’m talking about!” He said as he ran a hand through his hair.

“There’s nothing going on with me and Sirius, Fred.” 

“Oh, you’re on a first name basis with him, huh?” He replied with a sarcastic laugh.

“Freddie, please…”

“Don’t ‘Freddie’ me! Lavinia!” He raised his voice, shutting her up. “I can see the way you look at him! I’m not blind, I’ve seen it! You’re all over him! You think I’m stupid! You fancy him! Admit it!”

“I-I..” Lavinia stammered, making him scoff.

“You can’t even defend yourself!” He shouted, making people turn to look at them.

“You’re not my boyfriend, Fred.” She said quietly, tears pooling in her eyes.

“No shit!” He yelled, turning to the river. “I wouldn’t have noticed if you hadn’t kissed me like that all this couple of days. Or sneak into my bed at night.” He turned to her again. “You’ve been sneaking into bed with him, haven’t you? These last days that you haven’t come to my room?”

“Don’t say something you might regret, Fred.” She glared at him as tears fell down her cheeks.

“He’s old enough to be your father! So your daddy issues are so deep that you’re looking for someone older now?”

“Stop.” She whispered.

“You can’t see it, can you?” He looked at her in the eye. “I’m in love with you! I’m still in love with you, Vinia!” He roared.

“Well, I’m not!” She cried, silencing him.

Fred looked heartbrokenly into her eyes, averting his gaze as he felt tears forming in his.

“Yeah,” he whispered. “I can tell.” He walked away from her, not looking back.

“Fred,” she whispered as he moved, but he ignored her.

“Fred!” She called, walking after him.

“Fred please!” She walked faster.  
But he never turned back. He kept walking as she kept calling his name and, the moment he got to an empty enough street, disapparated in front of her.

\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Fred apparated just outside Grimmauld Place and entered as soon as it appeared in front of him, slamming the door shut.

Just as the door slammed behind him, every witch and wizard in the dining room came running, wands out and ready to attack if they needed.

“What’s going on, Fred?” Molly asked with an angry tone to her voice. But Fred didn’t hear her because his eyes were stuck on someone else.

“It’s all your fault!” Fred shouted as he marched towards Sirius, but got stopped when George ran down the stairs and stopped in front of him with his hands on his arms.

“What are you even talking about?” George asked as Fred tried to push his way to Sirius, who was standing by the dining room door with an unbothered look on his face.

“You seduced her! You took her away from me!” Fred cried out. 

Remus, who was standing next to Sirius, took a deep breath. Sirius didn’t move his eyes from Fred, even if he could feel everyone’s eyes on him.

“I did no such thing.” He calmly replied, making Fred scoff.

“She’s 17, you arse!” Fred shouted. Molly’s cry of his name went unheard. “She’s young enough to be your daughter! Stay away from her.”

Everyone went quiet at that moment. Fred’s heavy breathing was the only sound that could be heard. George, and now Ron, were still trying to keep Fred back.

“Where is she, by the way?” Sirius asked, a hard tone to his voice.

That made Fred snap out of it. He looked around him, suddenly remembering that Lavinia didn’t follow him back.

“I…” He started.

“So you left her in the middle of muggle London, alone I might add, because you were cross with me?” Sirius said, shouldering his way through Tonks, Molly, and Arthur.

“I-I…” Fred stammered, but couldn’t get his mind straight.

“You left a teenage muggleborn witch all alone in London just when Death Eaters started killing muggleborns again?” Sirius’ grey eyes stuck to Fred’s brown ones, not moving an inch when he was in front of the teenager.

“I-I can go back to get her, I know where she is, I-” 

“You’re not going anywhere.” The older man interrupted Fred. “You’ve done enough.” 

“What, and you’re going?” Fred asked defiantly.

Sirius opened his mouth to reply, but was interrupted by a hand on his shoulder.

“You’re not going anywhere, either. I’ll go get her.” Remus said.

“Where were you when you left?” 

“We…” Fred swallowed what felt like a lump in his throat. “We had just walked down the London Bridge.”

“Do you think she’d still be there?” Remus asked, calmly.

Fred shook his head, making Remus sigh and rub his forehead. 

“Do you have any idea where she could be?” 

“I think I know.” George said, making all eyes turn to him. “There’s this park by her house she always went to when she was sad. Maybe she’s there.” 

Remus nodded. “Do you know her address?”

George nodded and, without letting go of his twin, told his old professor where to find Lavinia.

“Alright. You,” He pointed at Sirius. “Don’t do anything stupid. And don’t go out. And you,” He pointed to George. “Keep him,” pointing at Fred, “away from Sirius. At least for now.” 

Huffing, Sirius turned and went back to the dining room, George and Ron pulled on Fred to take him back upstairs.

“Are you sure we even have to be doing this? They’re just dramatic teenagers.” Mundungus said.

“Dramatic teenagers or not,” Remus raised his voice, “there is an upset muggleborn witch alone in London. She shouldn't be alone. Not now.”

Remus walked outside the wards that protected the house, but still was far enough from it that muggles wouldn’t see him. Wand in hand and address in mind, he disapparated.

\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The moment Fred left her, she broke down to sobs in the middle of the pavement. She never wanted to hurt him. He was her best friend, she needed him. She loved him.

But you don’t love him the way he loves you. A voice in her head said.

No. No, she didn’t love him like he loved her. She wasn’t in love with him, not anymore. Not for a while. But she loved him so much.

She needed to get out of there. That moment. She felt like she couldn’t breathe and she was trembling, she wasn’t sure if she could apparate that moment.

_Calm down, Lavinia. Calm down. Breathe._ She told herself. After a couple of breaths, she tried picturing her safe space outside of Hogwarts. The first picture that came to her mind, was Sirius’s smiling face.

Shaking her head, she tried picturing the park her mum used to take her to whenever things got bad at home. She could picture the swings, and the slide. The benches and the trees, as well as the sandbox she used to play in.

Closing her eyes, she waved her wand and disapparated, apparating in that same park a couple of blocks away from her dad’s house.

She walked to the swings and sat down on one, looking down at her feet as more tears slowly rolled down her cheeks.

She heard a crack behind her but didn’t turn around, knowing perfectly well who it was.

“Didn’t take you long to find me.” She said.

“I have to say it was hard,” he said, making her turn to look at him with wide eyes. “I had to ask for directions, but I finally got it right.” Remus said as he made his way towards her and sat down on the swing next to her.

“I…” She gulped. “I wasn’t expecting you to come.”

“I know.” He replied with a sad smile on his face. “What happened, Lavinia?”

She was quiet for a moment, not looking up at him in shame.

“I hurt Fred.” 

“You didn’t do it on purpose.”

“But I still did.” 

The pair sat quietly, gently swinging, crickets and jangling chains was all that could be heard. 

“I know I don’t have a chance with him. Trust me, I know.” She said. “And I’m not in love with him, either.” She sniffed, looking up at him through her eyelashes. “I mean, I’m much too young for him, why would he even consider me? But I’m so comfortable with him, and he makes me feel safe. Does that even make sense?” She turned to face him, tears streaming down her cheeks.

“It makes sense. You found someone who understands you. But you fancy Sirius, don’t you?”

Lavinia snickered at that and wiped her nose with her hand. “Is it that obvious?” 

Remus chuckled. “Just a little bit.”

“I never wanted to ask, because it’s not my place and I don’t want to seem rude, but what happened to him? Why did he go to Azkaban if he’s innocent?”

Remus looked down to face her and kept silent for a moment. “We trusted the wrong people. He was supposed to be Harry’s parents’ secret keeper when they went into hiding, but he had Peter be instead of him because he thought Death Eater would go after him because he was James’ best man at his wedding.” He turned to look in front of him. 

“We thought there was a spy in the Order. I thought it was Sirius, Sirius thought it was me. Turns out it was the person we least expected. Sirius went after him after James and Lily were already dead, and Peter murdered 12 muggles and faked his death, and aurors thought Sirius did it, so he got sent to Azkaban.” 

Lavinia nodded as she looked up at the older man. He turned back to her and gave her a gentle smile.

“Ready to go back?” He asked.

“I’m scared of seeing Fred.” She replied. “I led him on and I didn’t even know I was doing so, and I never wanted to hurt him.” A tear rolled down her cheek. “I don’t know what to do.” 

Remus wiped the tears that rolled down.

“You’ll have to confront him one day or another, darling.”

“Fred deserves so much better than me.” She whispered.

“Don’t say that. You’re a special girl, Lavinia. You just haven’t found the right person for you.” He said. “You’ll find someone, someday. Preferably someone your own age.” He joked, making her laugh.

“Just like you and Tonks?” She smirked, making him awkwardly laugh.

“We are not talking about myself here, we’re talking about you.” He smiled and stood up, extending his hand to her. 

She took his hand to stand, and went to wrap her around his middle. He hugged her back, gently rubbing her back.

“Thank you for being there for me, Remus. You’re the big brother I never knew I wanted.” She joked.

“Let’s go back.” He smiled.

They pulled away, smiled at each other, and disapparated back to Grimmauld Place.


	6. The Tapestry

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I’m sorry I didn’t post in 2 weeks. I’ve had 2 very busy, very crazy weeks. My cousin moved her wedding forward by 5 weeks and she told us 3 weeks before the actual date, so I was going crazy looking for a dress and stuff for my cosplays. And last week, my grandma had a mini-stroke and fell going up the stairs, so she needed stitches and she’s still staying at the hospital, we didn’t know when she was leaving, so we’ve all been taking turns to spend the night with her. She left on Tuesday, but we’re all still trying to organize who stays with her at her house to take care of her. I’m doing my best to be back because I really love you all and I’m very grateful for all your support. I hope I can get back on schedule later on when everything goes back to normal.
> 
> Thank you to samisina10232017 for being a very patient and very nice beta! Go read her stories, she’s amazing!

The first thing Lavinia did when she and Remus returned to Grimmauld Place, was run to the backyard. She wanted to be alone and she knew Hermione and Ginny would be all over her if she went back to their shared room. 

How could she be so stupid to have led Fred along for so long? He was in love with her and she never noticed it. Taking a deep sigh and squeezing her eyes shut, she leaned her head back until it gently touched the wall behind her, her arms wrapped around her knees as she sat down.

“I’m so stupid.” She mumbled.

She sat there for what felt like hours, staring up at the night sky looking for her favorite star. She looked all around until there, bright as she ever was, she found Sirius. Ever since she was young - before she knew magic existed - she loved stargazing. And the brightest star in the sky was always her favorite. She always told herself that she loved it because it was the heart of the Dog constellation and dogs were her favorite animal, but deep down she knew it was because of just how bright it shone, and she always needed that kind of light in her life. Sometimes her father would drink and get violent with her mother, the same mother would fell ill and withered away. When she died, father would remind Lavinia of just how much she resembled her mother, and drink to numb the pain. Then he’d take it out on her instead. The star was her only reprieve. 

Ever since her mother died back in the summer before her fifth year, she tried her best not to go back home. He was drinking and eventually drunk during the funeral, and when they got home he slapped her to the floor, calling her by her mother’s name before he left to go to his room. That was the beginning of everything. She wanted to go to The Burrow, but the Weasleys were in Egypt visiting Bill, so Lavinia couldn’t go to them for help.

So that December, when Fred told her he wanted to officially introduce her as his girlfriend to his parents, she was relieved that she was able to spend most of the Christmas break at The Burrow, but that didn’t save her from seeing her dad for a couple of days. And Fred saw the bruises on her arms. That was the most shameful moment of her life.

But through all those moments and even at Hogwarts, Canis Major - and therefore, Sirius - was there for her. Reminding her that everything would be alright. She stared up at the star as a tear rolled down her cheek, thinking about how she could fix things with Fred. And when. 

“I shouldn’t have led him on,” she mumbled. “Why did I do that?” 

Standing up, she entered the house and was happy the dining room and ground floor were empty, then walked down the stairs to the basement, in need of a warm cup of tea to calm her nerves.

But the moment she entered the kitchen, she froze in place. Sitting at the table drinking his own cup of tea was Fred. He turned to look up at her and he froze too. The both of them couldn’t take their eyes off the other, the air tense around them. 

Lavinia couldn’t think of what to say. It was as if her mind went blank. She opened and closed her mouth like a fish, but no words came out. She could see Fred’s red-rimmed and puffy eyes, and she felt herself start to tear up again. So she did the only thing she could think of.

She turned around and left.

She ran away from Fred. Like a coward.

She ran up the flight of stairs, not caring if she woke Walburga’s portrait up (which she didn’t), and ran up another flight until she reached the first floor. Just when she stood right outside her bedroom door, hand on the handle, she stopped. She couldn’t go there. Not yet, anyway. She knew Ginny was awake and waiting to interrogate her, she was absolutely sure about that. And she couldn’t go to George’s room, Fred would be there sooner or later. Turning her head, she saw another room she’s never been to in the 3 weeks she’d been there, and made a run for it. 

Closing the door behind her and her back to it, she closed her eyes and took deep breaths. “You’re such a coward, Lavinia.” She told herself in a whisper. 

“Don’t be too hard on yourself.”

Opening her eyes in a snap and letting a little scream out, she looked wide eyed at one Sirius Black. He was sitting on the long couch in the middle of the room, a book in his hand and a drink in the other. She groaned inwardly. If she had to be honest, Sirius was the last person - besides Fred - she wanted to see.

“Hello.” Sirius said as he closed the book and turned to her.

“Hi.” Lavinia breathed out. 

“How are you feeling?” Sirius asked as he placed the book on the table next to the couch, not taking his eyes off of her. Lavinia, for her part, stood frozen at the door.

“I’m…” She started, “... I don’t really know how I feel, to be honest.” 

“Do you want to talk about it?” He asked as he took a sip from his drink. Lavinia gulped as she watched him, trying hard not to be uncomfortable by the drink.

 _Merlin, Fred is right._ She thought. _Maybe I’ve got daddy issues._

“I don’t know.” She whispered.

“Well,” he replied, taking the book back. “I’ll be here if you want to. I know that Hermione and Ginny are still awake, so you might be here a while.”

Lavinia looked around the room. This was the only room they were yet to finish cleaning, but she never had a go at it. She slowly walked around, looking at the tapestry that covered the wall, faces with names under them all over it.

There were a couple of names with faces burned off. _Eduardus. Iola. Cedrella, Phineas. Marius. Alphard. Andromeda. Sirius._

Lavinia did a double-take at that. She stared at Sirius’ burned off mention, right next to a Regulus Arcturus Black, under a Walburga and an Orion.

“My mother did that.” His voice said right behind her, making her jump a bit. “Right after I ran away.” She turned to her right to look up at him when he walked next to her, his eyes on the tapestry. “Charming woman, my mother.” 

“Why did you run away?” She asked, not taking her eyes off of him. “If you don’t mind me asking.” She quickly added.

“My parents didn’t like it when I was sorted into Gryffindor, and they were blood purists, as you can guess from her portrait downstairs. They weren’t Death Eaters, but they fully supported Voldemort’s views. And my mother had an affinity for punishing my brother and I with the Cruciatus curse. Mainly me.” He took a sip and wiped his lips with his sleeve, not noticing when Lavinia flinched when he drank. “I couldn’t take it anymore, and I just left one day. I was sixteen.”

“Your mother hurt you?” Lavinia asked with tears in her eyes, feeling bad for him.

“She did. And one day I just couldn’t take it anymore.” He took another sip. “I took all I could and-“

“Can you stop that?” Lavinia interrupted with a snap, making him turn to her.

“Stop what?” He asked with a confused look in his eye.

“That.” She sent a pointed look at the glass in his hand. “I don’t like it.”

“Why? Something wrong?”

Lavinia took a deep, shuddering breath, closing her eyes to keep the tears at bay. “My… father used to drink a lot, okay? And he…” She couldn’t look at him. She was too embarrassed about it.

“He did that to your face, didn’t he?” He whispered, making her nod in return.

“Yeah, that’s why I ran away.” She whispered, looking down.

At her answer, Sirius placed the glass on the table next to the couch and turned back to the spot next to her. Placing a hand on her shoulder, he gently squeezed it as he looked down at her.

“We’re not so different, now that I think of it.”

Lavinia chuckled and turned to look up at him, tears staining her cheeks.

“Yeah, I guess we’re not.”

Sirius gave her a small sad smile, which she returned as they stared at each other.

“I…” He started, clearing his throat. “I think your roommates are asleep now.”

“Oh.” Lavinia said. “Yeah, most probably.” She said, but neither of them moved.

“I’ll see you tomorrow morning, then.” He said, gently lifting his hand from her shoulder.

“See you, Sirius.” Lavinia replied as she walked to the door. 

“I meant it, though.”

Lavinia turned to look at him, a confused look in her eyes.

“If you want to talk about it, your dad or what happened with Weasley, I’ll be here.” He smiled at her.

Lavinia smiled back, that smile she reserved just for him.

“Thank you.”

“Sweet dreams, princess.” He winked at her, making her smile more.

“Night, Sirius.”

The moment Lavinia closes the door behind her, Sirius sat down with a sigh, grabbing the glass close to his eyes.

“Shite,” he said to himself. “I’m fucked up.” He said as he took the last sip of the drink.


	7. Snooping and Bad Decisions

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much to samisina10232017 for being my beta!! Please go read her stuff, it's really good!

The next couple of days were basically the same as the previous days. Breakfast, cleaning, lunch, cleaning, dinner, and to bed. Lavinia and Fred were avoiding each other like the plague, not even looking at each other during meals. She could feel how tense the air was around them. Everyone acted as if nothing had happened, chatting among themselves and joking, even. But Fred and Lavinia weren’t talking to each other. Even Sirius, joker as he was, couldn’t look at either of the teenagers without receiving a glare in return from the redhead or a nervous look from the brunette. 

George tried to play a neutral role, they were his brother and his best friend, after all, and he loved them both. But, in the end, he had to choose a side. And, even if Lavinia knew he’d side with Fred, it still hurt when he didn’t talk to her either. The sad looks he sent her didn’t help either.

She didn’t talk to anyone else, if she had to be honest. Hermione was too discreet to ask her about it, and Ginny’s glares were too obvious for her not to notice. Ron didn’t say anything, and both the Weasley parents understood that this kind of thing happened to teenagers.

Remus was there for her, sending her small smiles which she returned, and Tonks tried her best to make her smile. But, if she was being truthful to herself, the one person she wanted to see was Sirius.

She still thought about how he had acted that night in the drawing room. And, if she was being honest, she felt a… something between them. She wasn’t really sure what it was, exactly, but she felt _something._

So, as she did every day before dinner, she went out to the backyard and sat down on the floor, watching the stars and waited for Sirius. But Sirius never came. She sighed. Maybe she had misread the situation. Who was she kidding, of course she did. A man like Sirius wouldn’t ever be interested in a girl like her. She was just a teenager, old enough to his daughter. 

_God Lavinia, daddy issues much?_

She was quiet during meals, as if she wasn’t there. Everyone was chatting and laughing, some were whispering amongst themselves, but the room was the complete opposite of how Lavinia was feeling. Even Fred was back to being himself, joking around and perfecting his prank merchandise for his future store. Throughout dinner she kept feeling eyes on her, but she never knew who it was. She never looked up to check. She didn’t know how she’d react if it was Fred or Sirius staring at her.

Right before dinner, instead of going upstairs to the room she shared with Ginny and Hermione, she went back outside. She still couldn’t be in the same room as them - particularly Ginny - for long periods of time. Sighing, she stared at the other Sirius who had kept her company over the last 3 days. It shone as bright as it always did, but this time she felt as if the star was mocking her. Right now, Lavinia felt as if her life was covered in darkness and she couldn’t get out of it. And the star was telling her she could shine brighter while the girl was stuck down in her deep, dark hole.

“Bloody star.” Lavinia mumbled under her breath as she wiped a tear that had rolled down her cheek. She glared up at the mocking celestial being and scoffed to herself. Talking to a giant burning ball of gas million of miles away, really? You’ve reached a new low, even for yourself.

“I’m going to go get Harry!”

Lavinia jumped in her place at the anger in Sirius’ voice. She turned to look at the sliding door from her sitting place right by the wall, and slowly scooted over to the edge of it, to listen more carefully. _There’s something wrong with Harry?_ She thought.

“You know you can’t leave the house, Sirius.” Remus said with a calmed voice.

“I don’t care, he’s my godson! I should go get him after everything he’s been through!”

Lavinia’s head was at the edge of the door, looking into the room through the side of her eye. She could identify Tonks, Remus, Sirius, Mr. and Mrs. Weasley, Moody and Kingsley. There were some other people there, too, and she’d seen them before while they arrived through the Floo or through the front door, but she never knew their names. 

“Dementors on Privet Drive, really-” Sirius was saying, but was interrupted.

“Wait!” Moody shouted, his magical eye moving around the room and stopping at the sliding door. Lavinia sat straight against the wall in a flash, begging that he didn’t see her. But her hopes came slamming down when the door slid open and Remus stood there, looking down at her, shaking his head.

“What are you doing here, Lavinia?” Remus sighed.

“Um… Stargazing?” She said as she gazed up at his tall stature from her sitting place.

“Come on, let’s go.” 

Lavinia took his hand and he pulled her up, guiding her inside the house. 

“Lavinia, what are you doing here?” Molly reprimanded her. “You should be in bed!” 

“What’s going on with Harry?” She asked. “Is he okay?”

“That’s none of your business, young lady.” Moody growled.

“Bullshit.” Lavinia said as she crossed her arms in front of her and her eyes set on Moody, ignoring Molly’s cry of her name and Remus taking a deep, exhausted breath behind her. What she didn’t ignore, though, was Sirius’ small chuckled and the way he covered his mouth to hide the smile that etched its way onto his face.

“Harry’s my friend, and I’m worried about him. As is everyone else.” She kept her eyes on Moody. “And Sirius said Dementors were at his house. Did he get attacked?” 

Moody growled and glared at her. “It’s not something a little girl like you should know.”

“Little girl?!” Lavinia raised her voice. “I’m 17! I’m technically an adult!” 

“Lavinia, I think it’s best-” Remus started.

“I want to know if Harry’s okay!” She looked around her. “Merlin knows he’s got enough just by living with that horrible family, and now add a Dementor attack!” 

“Lavinia dear, I think it’s time for you to go upstairs.” Molly stated with a stern tone.

“I’m not leaving until I know what happened!”

“He’s fine.” 

Lavinia’s eyes stopped on Sirius as he took a drink of Firewhisky. “We’re going to get him out of that house tonight.” His eyes were set on her. “Don’t worry that pretty head of yours, princess.”

She stared at him, breathing hard and glaring. “Fine.” She said as she walked out of the dining room and made her way upstairs. When she reached the top of the stairs, instead of making her way to the room she was staying in, she entered the drawing room and sat down on the sofa where Sirius had sat the other night.

On the table, was a bottle of Firewhisky. Lavinia couldn't help herself from looking at it with disnain, and a bit of curiosity. She hated that foul drink. Her father stuck to plain Whiskey, but alcohol was alcohol. No matter if muggle or not.

But, at the same time, she was curious about it. She’d never had a drink before, not even when Lee smuggled a couple of bottles from the kitchens back in Sixth year. But now, with the way she’s been feeling since she broke Fred’s heart, the bottle was calling for her. 

"Oh, come off it.” She told herself as she snatched the bottle off the table by the neck, screwing the cap off and taking a sniff off of it.

“Ugh, this smells disgusting.” She said screwing her face, but took a drink anyway.  
The taste was awful. She tried hard not to spit it out and swallow it. As the warm liquid went down her throat, a burning sensation was left in her throat.

“Ugh,” She grimaced. “How can they even drink this?”

She took another drink, still not getting used to the sensation it left. After the third drink, she placed the bottle back on the table, feeling herself a little lightheaded. 

As she waited for Sirius to get to the room - because she knew he’d be there - Lavinia grabbed the bottle again. She took another sip. And another. And another. And another until the once full bottle was only half filled.

Lavinia was startled when she heard the door slam shut. There, with his back to her, stood the man she was waiting for. 

“Hey.” 

Sirius turned around with a flash, eyes on her. “Lavinia,” he cleared his throat. “Why aren’t you in your room?” 

“Didn’t feel like seeing Ginny and Hermione.” She giggled, standing up and swaying a bit.

Sirius’ eyes drifted from Lavinia to the bottle on the table. He noticed just how much was missing, and he inwardly groaned. 

“Gave yourself permission into my stash, didn’t you?” He said sternly, making Lavinia giggle more as she walked towards him, swaying.

“I thought you didn’t like alcohol.”

“After the weeks I’ve had,” She said, her words slurred. “I thought there had to be a reason my father drank so much. And I was right.”When she reached him, she laid her head on his shoulder.

“I’ve had a very bad couple of weeks, Sirius.” She whispered, her hand petting the lapels of his coat. “I’ve fucked up every single relationship I ever had. My father, Fred… You.”

As she said this, her hand rested on his upper stomach. “I’m fucked up, aren’t I?” 

Sirius cleared his throat again. “You’ve had one too many, Lavinia. Come on,” He said as he took her hand off of him. “Let’s get you to bed.”

“No!” She cried. “I don’t want to go to bed! I want to stay here with you.”

“Lavinia, you’re drunk.”

“I’m fucked up! No one loves me because I’m broken!” Tears were now slowly rolling down her cheeks.

Sirius sighed.

“You’re not fucked up or broken, Lavinia.” Sirius said as he moved her over to the couch and sat her down. When she reached for the bottle, he took it away. “I think you’ve had enough for a lifetime, darling.”

She laid her head on his shoulder again, and Sirius ran his hand up and down her arm. “Why do I fuck everything up?” She said in a sad voice, sniffing.

“You don’t, people just don’t understand where we come from.” 

Lavinia looked up at him from her place on his shoulder, looking into his eyes. His grey eyes stared into her glassy green ones, then leaned in and kissed her forehead. Her hand was on his chest. 

“I got you, kid. I understand you. I know how you feel.”

Lavinia pulled away from him, and once again looked into his eyes. God, he was gorgeous. And he understood her, where she came from, how she felt. She fancied him. A lot. Those expressive grey eyes, that beard, and his personality. It was too much for her. In a flash, she leaned in and placed her lips over his, her eyes shut. 

Sirius immediately pushed her off of him. “Lavinia, no.” He said as he held her away. Lavinia tried to kiss him again, making Sirius force her away from him. “Lavinia!”

“Why don’t you want me?!” She cried out as she glared at him with puffy red eyes. “See? I told you! I told you! I’m fucked up and no one wants me!”

“Bloody hell, Lavinia, you’re pissed!” He growled. “This is not okay. Go back to your room.”

“I want to stay with you! You-you’re the only one who understands me! Why don’t you get that?”

“I’m old enough to be your father.”

“But you’re not! You’re not my father!”

“Go to bed, Lavinia.”

“No!”

“Go to bed!”

“I don’t want to!”

Sirius groaned and ran his fingers through his hair. “Alright. You want to stay here, stay.” He said, and Lavinia’s eyes widened in surprise. “I’ll go. Good night, Lavinia.” With that, he stood up and, grabbing the bottle of Firewhisky, walked to the door.

“Wait, no! Sirius, don’t leave!” She said, standing up so fast that she lost her footing. “I-I’m sorry! I’m really sorry, Sirius!”

Sirius stopped when he reached the door, turning around to look at the sobbing teenage girl on the floor.

Sighing, he walked back towards her and kneeled down to her level. With his sleeve, he wiped off her tears. 

“Come on, princess. Let’s get you to bed.” Placing his arm around her back and the other under the crook of her knees, he stood up carrying her bridal style. She laid her head on his chest.

Sirius opened the door to her room, thanking every single god and star above that her roommates weren’t there. He walked to her bed and gently placed her above the bedding-

“Why don’t you want me?” She mumbled, not looking at him.

Sirius sighed. “You’ll feel better in the morning. Rest.” He petted her hair away from her face, and turned off the light, closing the door behind him. He made his way down the stairs to the formal dining room, he had a godson to welcome home.


End file.
